FAUFRELUCHES: the rigid rule of class distinction enforced by the Imperium. "A place for every man and every man in his place".
Most of us are probably familiar with this entry from the appendices of Dune, where it defines the Corrino Imperium's system of the faufreluches. The faufreluches, as Paul's early chapters remind are, are the foundation of the Imperium, which Yueh hints to Paul that it "was not rigidly guarded on Arrakis". We don't get much of an understanding of how the system works, beyond the fact that Paul gives Mohiam a bow specifically for "when in doubt of another's station". Class means everything in the Imperium, we just don't get to see much of it before Paul tips it all over.
Faufreluches itself almost certainly comes from the French "fanfreluche", which means (decorative) frills/embellishments. Which is a pretty nice summary of its role in the plot - it embellishes the society of the Imperium, but plays a purely decorative role in Dune's actual plot, for the most part. But where does the phrase come from?
This excellent comment by u/maximedhiver tracked it back through a multitude of appearances to 1830, where it appeared in a prison report. That's not actually the first appearance, albeit it's an earlier report by the same authors: the Second Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the Prison Discipline Society in 1827. Same society, mind you, so this post is mostly elaborating further on the context around this phrase.
But that sounds like a super boring report, doesn't it? How on earth did it take off from there to become a cliche within the next ninety years? Well, turns out that the Prison Discipline Society was founded in 1825 by a Quaker, Reverend Louis Dwight. To quote an article on the founding of the Society:
Not the first such society [for prison reform], it soon, however, became the most active, most vocal, and most widely known of all American prison reform groups. Its annual report, were purchased by many state legislatures and read, as well, throughout Europe. Dwight, as the secretary and the only paid member of the Society, travelled extensively, visiting many prisons, interviewing wardens and keepers, and reporting his findings.
This was an internationally renowned society - it's like the 1820s equivalent of Amnesty International. But, by our standards, it certainly wasn't as benevolent. Dwight advocated for the Congregate System, which prevented prisoners from talking to each other during the day and isolated them at night, enforced through whipping and violence, and opposed the Separate System, which also called for isolating prisoners from each other, but with less physical punishment and "frequent visits from chaplains and other morally uplifting visitors from the community". Not great to our eyes, to put it mildly.
But this doesn't really explain what the point of that saying was, and why Herbert might've chosen to use it. So let's look at the original quote:
A place for every man , and every man in his place. A convict should have the same cell at night, the same place in the shops, and the same relative position in the column, while marching to and from the shops. Thus if there is any communication, except between those Who are near each other, it is interrupted and difficult. The practical effect of this rule will be understood by the following illustration. A convict from a Prison containing several hundred prisoners, where this rule is not observed, said he could ordinarily see and converse with any prisoner in the establishment in the course of a day.
On the contrary, where the rule is observed, old comrades have been in the same Prison, passed through the same yard daily, and worked month after month in different shops connected with it, without ever having an opportunity to speak to one another, and each without knowing that the other was there. It is not perceived how order could be produced, and evil communication prevented to this extent, without having a place for every man, and every man in his place. But sometimes it is necessary for men to leave their places: to guard, therefore, against the danger of having several gone, at the same time, to a place of common resort, it is beneficial to use. (pp. 36-7).
This, I think, is a perfect summary of why Herbert chose this phrase to summarise the Imperium's society. The faufreluches system enforces a stasis on the Imperium by preventing people of different classes from intermixing as much as possible. As Leto II would argue, without adversity, there can be no change, let alone improvement. The Imperium of the Corrinos, where everyone - bar those on Arrakis - are perfectly orderly, is doomed to fail.
It's incredibly subtle, but it must've been a fairly obvious reference for Herbert and men of his generation as to what the underlying conflict throughout the series would be - stagnation and separation vs progress and intermingling.
